Hi there.
Love this site and use it often, but please start testing 140mm fans and above, also the uv, led fans. There are a lot of "modders" that also want there "box" to be silent and not be a nightmare sound source ala a jet engine going full speed, and this site is where you go to when you want info about silent stuf.
Salutations.
Morten.

There's a reason LED fans aren't really recommended on this sight: they are never really quiet at stock speeds (and are always sound worse than their opaque counterparts) and the LEDs dim when undervolted to make them less noisy.

But if you want a recommendation for "less noisy" LED fans, try the Antec tri-cool LED fans. They have a switch that allows them to be run at hi-med-lo speeds.

Thanks for the tip, but they could start testing normal 140mm and above. Many cases come with big fans and some would need replasing due to their loud noice. Allthough Aerocool Streamliner 1000 rpm / 54,7 cfm / 3-PIN and 4-PIN / 19.6 dBA / 140mm 14 cm x 14 cm x 2 cm (BxDxH) is low noice, but they come with blue lights. I could just cut the wires since the blue light is a problem for me on my next mod, and then paint it in my desired color instead of the blue it has..

Well, to be honest, it's hard enough for the SPCR reviewers to get a supply of well-known 120mm fans to test and the time to test them. That 140mm fans are still not widely available from the more reliable manufacturers. However, that being said, to anyone wanting a quiet 140mm fan I'd look at the Yate Loon D14SL-12. It's the lowest speed version and Yate-Loon is well-known around these parts to produce decent quality fans for low cost.

Hi,
I'm looking for a quiet 140mm fan for my Cosmos too...
I found a 140mm from Cooltek, it's cheap, it's rated at 9db ( ), only 600 RPM but it's really NOT quiet... I tried with a 12v->7v adapter, but he can't start at such a low voltage... Helping it for starting, at 5V he turns at ~500 RPM and is still too noisy for me.

Other solutions I tried are :
-stock cooler master 120mm fans with 5v adapter : there's no wind noise but the motor makes a very annoying tik tik tik tik tik tik
-i found an old antec tricool 120mm in another case, tried it, it seems good at lowest speed...

If I can't find any good 140mm fans, I'll try a 120mm lowest speed noctua...

I definitely support the transition from 120 to 140mm fans for the same reason that going from 92 to 120mm fans is usually beneficial: greater CFM at lower RPMs (and thus lower noise). With an increase of only 20mm instead of 28 in the transition to 140mm, I would expect to see a slightly less improvement in RPM and noise improvements than the transition to 120mm allowed.

In addition to including 140mm front intake fans--which can be done without extending the case profile in many instances--I wish more cases would extend their width slightly to accommodate them in the rear exhaust position. I realize this solution is not ideal for mATX purists that value every square inch that they don't have use, but plenty of people would benefit for this solution. In theory.

Mechanically, 140mm is superior. 80mm -> 120mm was theoretically either twice the airflow or half the noise. I've been told that when the hub motor size is factored in (it can usually stay the same size), the 120mm to 140mm transition is similar because of the larger fin ratio (to the 80mm transition). There's generally no question about 80mm versus 120mm now, especially here -- roughly half the noise. Yes.

This can be seen in specifications -- for example, Yate Loon. The D12SL-12 is the same CFM as the D14SL-12, yet the 140mm fan runs at 350rpm less and is 3dB quieter. Factor in the dBa difference in the lower frequency noise, and we're seeing an improvement. That can translate into better cooling for less noise and fewer fans.

Yet those are manufacturer ratings. SCPR proved in 80mm fans that specs are often meaningless. There is no guidance on 140mm fans now. No reliable testing. They are in the market, with Thermaltake passing off a 120mm fan with a larger housing, and fans with questionable dBa/CFM ratings again. The quieter fans are not being rewarded with higher sales. SCPR could be at the forefront, encouraging the larger fan standards by popularizing and testing them.

There are far fewer fan models on the market compared to 120mm, making shorter work of testing them. I only know of a scythe, two yate loons, an evercool, and an aerocool. At least two of those are eliminated from being silent, as one yate loon is intentionally more powerful, the Aerocool is said to be loud, and Evercool generally makes high-airflow fans.

140mm fans work where 120's do. They fit in powersupplies. They work as case fans. When CPU heatsinks forced air downward, the deadspot in 120mm fans made cooling difficult as it would be with 140mm fans. Today, SCPR recommends tower-heatsinks for the lowest noise, and some are now being made with 140mm fans stock.

I understand when SCPR doesn't review the UV fans, or the overclocker/modder LED fans. Those are generally louder because of materials, and the focus on the hardcore overclocker crowd. There are the 250mm fans, but the quality tends to be lower, they don't fit into anything except for cases that already include them on a sidepanel. I'd love it if SCPR could quantify that since 120m->250mm is a huge difference, but currently they're still generally just nonstandard loud fans. That's not where 140mm fans are. 140mm fans are where 120mm fans were eight years ago.

They're just fans, but these are the reasons why I think it's important for SCPR to weigh in. Please test a couple to make the recommended fans list more complete :)

I have the Scythe and the two Yate Loon fans, but that just means I can already compare them subjectively myself.

Unfortunately, the current status under Calling All Good Fans has been "Please don't send any more fans right now. Trying to find time to fully develop testing / recording rig for first test run" (2004 outdated?), with the latest post by MikeC in 2006 in that fan acquisition sticky saying there's a backlog of 200 fans.

I was just very surprised that SCPR doesn't even mention 140mm fans in the recommended area. I did manage to find with Google a review of the Scythe Zipang saying that its "140mm fan is super quiet", that at 7v "The 16 [email protected] SPL could not have been measured in the lab except at ultra-quiet times... like 5AM". That review is very new, but cheers for the mention there. I think it's surprising that SCPR isn't recommending anything in the least noisy fan standard. I imagine SCPR as a force both pushing for the most quiet/effective cooling standards and correcting the fanciful statistics that the marketing departments imagine up for their new products (93 CFM @ 7.6dBa!).

Kind of an old topic, but it's just as relevant today. Finding information on 140mm fans is quite tough , so if SPCR could put them in the lime light I bet they would start carving out a niche in the market. At least a niche in the silencing market anyhow. If Yate Loon's 120mm specs and 140mm specs compare the same in real world testing, then a 140mm would be a great way to knock a couple Db off of any given amount of airflow.

I'm actually quite impressed with the 140mm Streamliners. At maximum speed in my friend's PC they must be producing 27dB at the most, and the vast majority of that is turbulence noise from the radiator he uses them to cool, there is no click/hiss/grid whatsoever from them, I suspect because they use a black frame and silver blades, not transparent. I would also be interested to know what the Scythe and Sharkoon alternatives are like, but alas, it seems 140mm fans, or even most 120s seem to be shunned for being 'too noisy' even at sub 20dB, in favour of dozens of almost inconsequential 80mms (all of the good recommendations for which have such vibration they are absolutely unacceptable in my PC compared to the vastly quieter 120s (I'm mainly talking about Nexus v Nexus and Noctua v Noctua here) Sometimes I think this site does perhaps take silence to the extreme, and ignores the larger group of people who just want a quiet PC, not a silent one, but enough about that. I'm also interested to see how the stock fans in cases like the P190 and NZXT Tempest stack up. I'll draw the line at the HAF, as those giant fans never seem very good as far as noise for air goes, the most successful one I've seen is Antec's big boy, the rest seem so slow there may as well be a faster 120 there, or cause so much turbulence you may as well have a faster 120 there...

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